Posted on 07/13/2010 1:17:51 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signed a contract in January to become a regular guest on Fox News, many of her critics said it was part of a strategy by the Republican to avoid tough or skeptical questions and engage only with friendly members of the media.
But Bill O’Reilly appears to have missed that memo.
The larger-than-life Fox News host with the top rated cable news show on TV has a history of challenging Palin. “You don’t have that much experience,” he told the former governor last fall, though he has also defended her performance as governor.
But Palin’s two most recent appearances on “The O’Reilly Factor” have drawn notice for the unusually testy exchanges between the TV titan and the most famous conservative political figure in America. This past Friday, O’Reilly interrupted Palin numerous times and pushed her to give an answer on how she would solve the nation’s immigration problem after securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Well, again, first let me go back to the importance of securing the border,” Palin said.
“No, no, but we got that, we got that governor,” O’Reilly interjected.
“Mm mm, no we don’t,” Palin countered.
“Yeah, the people watching this program have it. We have it. We assume that you as president would secure the border,” O’Reilly said. “But now you have to look inward, and you’ve got 12 million people staring at you. What are you going to have them do?”
Palin talked generally about not giving illegal immigrants a “free pass” and said, “We’re not going to reward the bad behavior.” She even, when asked what to do with immigrants who don’t register with the government, responded: “You deport ‘em.”
But when O’Reilly pressed her to outline what to do with those who do register for normalization, Palin was either unable or unwilling to answer the question: “Bill, it makes me uncomfortable that we’re even going down that path so far when—”
“You have to go,” O’Reilly interrupted. “You have to go down that path because it’s going to come up.”
“This is where it gets very complicated governor,” O’Reilly said to Palin, who wore an expression that could be described as irritated or bemused.
Jere Hester, a former New York Daily News City Desk Editor who now teaches at CUNY’s School of Journalism, called it “an extraordinary exchange.”
O’Reilly’s quizzing of Palin on how to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, during a June 15 interview, was not as tense as the most recent appearance. But O’Reilly did express disbelief at Palin’s argument that Obama was not doing everything he could to stop the gusher.
“I kind of have a big beef with you too though, Bill, if you don’t acknowledge that President Obama is wrong on his call for a need for energy policy,” Palin said.
A spokesman for Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC, declined to comment. But partisans on both sides of the Palin divide – those who love her and those who hate her – have taken notice.
“Whatever she’s for or not [on immigration], Bill O’Reilly doesn’t seem to have much respect for her ‘insights’ on the subject,” wrote the liberal website Newshounds.us. “For the second time in a few weeks, he virtually destroyed her credibility when she was poised to use his show to boost it.”
But a website with a close association to Palin – Conservatives4Palin.com – lashed out at O’Reilly.
“Mr. O’Reilly prides himself on being fair and balanced. O’Reilly regularly proclaims that when he interviews Governor Palin he’ll be fair without asking her gotcha questions. Well, on Friday night O’Reilly broke his own rule,” said the website.
“Had O’Reilly stopped interrupting her and allowed her to answer his question we would actually have heard what she had to say. Twice the Governor begun explaining her position and O’Reilly rudely interrupted her,” said a post author at Conservatives4Palin named Sheya. “To Bill O’Reilly: Can you PLEASE let Governor Palin finish her sentences so you actually get the ANSWER to your questions. You know, you may learn something in the process.”
Conservatives4Palin.com was started in part by a woman, Rebecca Mansour, who left the site to become a paid Palin consultant. SarahPAC paid Mansour $22,000 from April to June of this year for help with grassroots organizing and with managing Palin’s online presence, largely through her very active Facebook page, according to Federal Election Campaign filings.
A veteran Republican operative, however, said the O’Reilly sessions are good for Palin.
“Bill and Palin make for good TV. He gives her a run for her money and she feels free to give it right back to him,” the GOP official said. “The dynamic is a good one for the network, and it also helps stretch her on policy questions she would not otherwise feel obliged to answer.”
I like Sarah.
If she really wants to run for POTUS she needs to be able to handle entertainers like B’OR and do so in much better form then she is today. What I like about these exchanges is that she is clearly using them for “training”.
If she can’t improve, she makes her money, pushes her conservative message and moves on. A year from now, if she is verbally man handling B’OR, it will be because she has clarified her positions *AND* her ability to explain and defend them. Once that is in place, attacking the left will be easy.
O’Reilly is a freak show. He’s not too different from Olberman, just playing for a different team. I wouldn’t waste my time watching either of them. (Also I don’t have cable, so there’s no danger of that happening.)
Conservatives4Palin.com was started in part by a woman, Rebecca Mansour, who left the site to become a paid Palin consultant. SarahPAC paid Mansour $22,000 from April to June of this year for help with grassroots organizing and with managing Palin’s online presence, largely through her very active Facebook page, according to Federal Election Campaign filings.
Here is a link to the transcript. It read a lot different than the article describes. Sarah could never finish a thought with out BOR cutting her off.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/how-sarah-palin-would-tackle-illegal-immigration
IMHO, BOR is a Northeastern elitist (Harvard). They are either Independents or Republicans a step or 2 closer to RINO, or in some cases a full blown RINO. White RINO’s aren’t endangered in the TEA party apparently either.
BOR is all about show-biz.
Having watched the interview in question (and at this point being barely able to take the blowhard O’Reilly’s interview style), I have to say that Palin was not ready for the follow up question - once the border is sealed, what do you do? She fumbled it, tried to steer around it, and there was my ole buddy O’Reilly to make hay of it...
You have to be ready for that follow up and it has to be clear. Securing the border is the easy part. How, as a humane, compassionate, sophisticated Nation, do we handle millions of illegal immigrants, who in many ways are integrated into our economy, and somehow also honor our laws, morals, and Freedom?
Just take the Central Valley of CA. Who do you think is going to pick the food that is critical to not only CA, but the rest of the Nation? It’s hellacious work and I am not sure that a reasonable solution for just that area alone exists. We do have unemployed people in the country who could do the work, but the wages are low, the work tough, and we have raised a generation or two of very, very lazy people used to the government teet.
Whatever happens, Palin needs a concise, quick, and decisive answer to that follow up question that directly deals with the question and shows leadership. They will chew her up on the national stage without it...
JMHO
I have not seen his show in years but I know what you mean I picked it up right away. He wants to be ‘the smart guy in the middle’
You see, Governor Palin NEVER brought up registration. These are O'Reilly's words and he tried to bait her.
Anyone here who believes that Sarah supports amnesty, especially when people are overwhelmingly opposed to amnesty and she was the only Republican to defend Jan Brewer and the AZ law - is a complete fool.
RE: How, as a humane, compassionate, sophisticated Nation, do we handle millions of illegal immigrants, who in many ways are integrated into our economy, and somehow also honor our laws, morals, and Freedom?
I get the impression that many FReepers consider the answer to the above question quite straightforward -— FIND THEM AND DEPORT THEM. SEND THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN HOME ( yes, even kids born here in the USA who are considered citizens ).
Easier said than done of course.
That is why I support the Arizona Law. That is the most reasonable step towards enforcing the law in this country.
Evolution, not revolution.
We need a President that’s supportive of laws like these.
If we have such a president, I think that once many other states begin to emulate Arizona, we would see illegals AVOIDING these states and moving to sanctuary states and cities. Once the problems begin to compound in sanctuary cities and people begin to see problems lessened in tough enforcing cities, support for enforcement will skyrocket even more.
THAT is my personal take on the problem. Sarah Palin ought to consider that too.
He was Stupid and RUDE.
They exchanged testes? O'Rielly would have been caught short...
I don’t like B.O. I think he’s a wishy-washy soft-core liberal.
Blowhard would be nice to Palin, if the interviews were conducted on the phone and if she would just talk dirty to him.
You got it, mick. Rebecca rocks. She’s gone from reaming sleazebag Alaska pols like Jay Ramras while at C4P to having twitter battles with Jake Tapper, who’s begging for Palin to come on his show and make him a hero. She’s in the big leagues and still doesn’t take any crap from anybody...LOL.
“I wish O’Reilly could allow ANY GUEST on his show, not just Palin, to get out 4 words without interrupting them. He does this all the time. He asks a question, the guest starts speaking and almost immediately, O’Reilly interrupts and starts talking over the guest. Really annoying.”
Boy, you really nailed BOR’s disgusting practice. I never watched him much, but now it’s avoidance. He’s a disrespectful bore on top of being a rude turd.
>>He wants to be ‘the smart guy in the middle’<<
You nailed it. That is the wording I was looking for. It accurately articulates my view.
The sad thing is that if you are actually smart and informed, you are anywhere BUT the middle.
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